Improvised Weapons
While the collapse of pre-war society led to countless military and police weapons falling into the hands of survivors of the war, homemade improvised weapons remain in common use around the world in the aftermath of the Great War. These improvised weapons may be made for pre-war parts, including scrap metal and even parts from purpose-built weapons, or from natural materials such as wood or stone, and may include melee weapons, firearms, explosives, and sometimes even energy weapons. Until the limited revival of pre-war industry, homemade improvised weapons were the only new weapon manufacturing in the world Edged Melee While pre-war knives, axes, and other bladed weapons are commonly used, typically as secondary weapons to a firearm, the crafting of handmade melee weapons in the postwar world remains common. These designs range from crude blades cut from sheet metal with a blowtorch and sharpened to less common, relatively high quality blades made using traditional hand-forging techniques. *'Gladius vulgaris/Improvised machete:' A crude short sword or machete made and used by Caesar's Legion from scavenged lawn mower blades or sharpened sheet metal, sometimes known as the gladius vulgaris (Latin: common sword). The weapons is the most commonly used weapon of recruit Legionaries, and often the only one they are issued with (other weapons seen in the hands of Legion recruits are typically scavenged). The grip of the blade is very crude, often consisting of a metal tang cut into the end of the blade using a blowtorch, which is wrapped in cloth or duct tape, or in some cases covered in two wood pieces attached by bolts. As it is often poorly maintained, the blade does not hold an edge well, does not last for an extended period of time, and is generally inferior to hand-forged blades, pre-war machetes, and blades manufactured after the revival of pre-war industry in the New California Republic. *'Bumper Sword': An improvised blade commonly used by super mutants made from crudely sharpened car bumpers, the bumper sword is not particularly sharp, but heavy, allowing it to cleave through flesh and bone like an axe. The Bumper sword is generally a single-edged blade used mostly for slashing, though some do have a crude point. While the point found on some models would at least theoretically allowing the user to thrust, the heavy, unwieldy design makes thrusting with the weapon difficult. While mostly used by super mutants, there are some examples of bumper swords being used by humans, most notably the Blade of the East, a bumper sword Legate Lanius of Caesar's Legion took as a trophy from a fallen Super Mutant warlord, and subsequently used as a two-handed sword. *'Mirelurk axe': A "Mirelurk axe" or simply "lurk axe" is a tool used by those who hunt or raise mirelurks (such as the mirelurk ranchers that once inhabited Anchorage Memorial of the Capital Wasteland and Thicket Excavations in the Commonwealth) used mostly for breaking open the shells of mirelurks to extract the meat. While many Mirelurk ranchers and hunters make use of pre-war woodcutting or fire axes, some wasteland blacksmiths have started making custom axes designed with the needs of mirelurk processing in mind. Most Mirelurk Axes resemble pre-war fire axes, being a two-handed axe with a heavy blade on one side of the head and a spike on the other. The spike is usually a bit longer and sharper than a fire axe spike, and the blade may vary in diameter, with some more resembling a broad axe. While mostly used as a tool for butching mirelurks, the mirelurk axe is sometimes used to kill mirelurks, typically with a strike to the head. This is usually done in an emergency, with most mirelurk hunters and ranchers favoring high-powered rifles or shotgun slugs for killing the creatures from a safe distance. When used as weapons, mirelurk axes are also used against radroaches, mole rats, feral ghouls, and other wasteland creatures "not worth wasting a bullet on", and sometime as a close combat weapon against human adversaries. *'Spears and Polearms:' The spear is among the first and the simplest weapons used by humans, and remains in use in the postwar period. While they are generally considered secondary weapons to firearms, spears are still used if more advanced weapons are not available, or for hunting smaller wasteland creatures such as radroaches and mole rats. Postwar spears vary greatly in design and quality, with some being a simple as sharp shards of metal or glass taped to a broom handle or other stick, while others use pre-war knives as heads, or even have hand-forged heads similar to those used on ancient and medieval spears, some of which are of fairly good quality. While spears by far the majority of post-war polearms, various poleaxe and halberd-type weapons have been observed, sometimes intentionally copied from medieval weapons, and other times the simple result of placing a fire axe head on a long pole. Like "mirelurk axes" and "mirelurk hammers", postwar polearms are often used against mirelurks because of their ability to pierce the heavy carapaces, or to fight and hold back feral ghouls, but are also sometimes used against human adversaries. *'Deathclaw/Bladed Gauntlets': The Deathclaw gauntlet is a fearsome melee weapons fashioned from the severed hand of a Deathclaw, with two or more of the large claws acting as brutal blades which can be used for slashing attacks or thrust forward with a "punching" motion. Similar Gauntlets have also been made from the hands of giant mantises or Yao Guai, as well as more conventional improvised punching daggers made with steel blades or even parts from old bear traps. *'Deathclaw Dagger:': In addition to the gauntlet, some examples of daggers constructed from deathclaw claws also exist. These weapons typically consist of a single claw which may be mounted on a wooden or metal grip, or a grip made from the phalanges of a deathclaw finger held together by a metal rod through the middle. While deathclaw daggers are sharp enough to use in combat, they are often kept primarily as trophies, as proof the owner killed one of the fearsome beasts. Blunt Melee *'Clubs:' Improvised clubs are generally short, one-handed designs intend for extreme close-quarters combat, follow a wide variety of designs which typically use a wooden or metal shaft and a metal or stone head, and may have metal flanges, studs, or spikes, making them reminiscent of a medieval mace or a First World War trench club, while others may resemble traditional clubs of cultures of various regions. For instance, in parts of the Southwestern US, clubs based on Native American war clubs are common. These weapons may be known by a variety of names including "wasteland clubs", "war clubs", "trench clubs", "maces", "morning stars", and "skullcrackers". While small one-handed club-type weapons are most common among humans, super mutants tend to favor heavier two-handed blunt weapons, which are more frequently used as a primary weapon, including wooden boards studded with nails or fitted with circular saw blades, as well as weapons fashioned from road signs. *'Modified Baseball Bats/"Swatters":' Among the most common improvised melee weapons found the post-war United States are old baseball bats, sometimes referred to as "nailbats" or "swatters". As the sport of baseball was practically lost after the war, baseball bats are used mostly as two-handed clubs. While some are used as-is, many baseball bats were modified to increase their lethality, with common attachments including nails, barbed wire, razor blades, railroad spikes, and circular saw blades. *'Modified Tools' *'Mirelurk hammer': A tool created by post-war blacksmiths for use in butchering mirelurks, similarly to the mirelurk axe. The mirelurk hammer is mostly used for cracking the shell, and, if a spike is attached the rear, the spike is used to pry open the carapace. While not often used in this manner because of the inherent danger involved, the weapon is, like the mirelurk axe, is designed with a spike long enough to pierce the brain and kill a mirelurk with a strike to the head, allowing a mirelurk hunter or rancher to defend himself against an attacking mirelurk if they do not have a firearm or is are of ammunition. Bows and Crossbows While firearms, whether pre-war or improvised are among the most common weapons in the post-war world, bows and crossbows are nonetheless commonly used for hunting and combat as they are practically completely silent and the arrows or bolts can be collected and reused. The designs of wasteland bows and crossbows are practically as varied as the weapons themselves, ranging from traditionally made weapons made from wood and other natural materials to those constructed from materials such as spring steel and synthetic strings, often with springs and pulleys added to further increase the power of each shot. In addition to bows and crossbows, weapons that are truly more classed as slingshot- relying on the elasticity of the string instead of the body, are sometimes used to fire projectiles such as arrows, bolts, and sometimes even explosives. Repeating and Automatic Crossbows Among the most advanced designs are repeating crossbows, many generally are either similar to an ancient Chinese design (possibly based on old museum pieces or images in pre-war books), intended to be fired from the hip using a top-mounted lever, from a magazine of about ten bolts. However, these designs cannot be easily fired from the shoulder. For this reason, some Wastelanders have designed pump-action repeating crossbow or even "fully automatic" designs operated using a crank mechanism, with magazines of up to 30 bolts. Most repeating crossbows are less powerful than standard crossbows, and for this reason, bolts may be coated with poison to increase lethality. Explosive Arrows Examples of explosive arrows and crossbow bolts are sometimes observed in the wasteland, effectively turning a bow into an improvised grenade launcher. Many designs make use of partial sticks of dynamite taped to arrows, which must be lit using a long fuse before drawing the and releasing (except in a crossbow, where they an be easily lit when drawn). Some also use hand grenades, equipped with a mechanism on the crossbow to pull the pin or at least hold the safety lever in place once the pin is pulled. In general, the safest, but rarest designs make use of a piece of remote C-4 attached to the an arrow, which will not detonate until the user activate the detonator, eliminating the risk of being killed by their own arrow if the user drops it, for instance. Air and Steam Guns Among the rarer and more unusual weapon designs seen in the wasteland are weapons similar to guns, but which fire projectiles with compressed air or steam instead of a powder charge. Of the two types of weapon, air-powered variants are by far the most common, typically operated by a hand-pump or, in some cases a compressed air tank filled by a electrical or gas-powered compressor, should one be available. Postwar air-powered weapons are functionally similar to pre-war BB guns, but much more powerful, firing either very large lead slug (.50 caliber or greater), or some form of sharp projectile, either a single arrow, spike, or spear, or a blast of flechettes. While air and steam-powered guns have a lower muzzle velocity and shorter range than conventional firearms, like bows and crossbows, they have the advantage of being almost completely silent. *'Railway Rifle:' The railway rifle is one of the more unusual designs of improvised weapons found in the Wasteland, even for the already unusual category of air and steam-powered weapons. The railway rifle uses a gas-powered torch to heat a water vessel into order to create steam. When the trigger is a pulled, a spring-loaded mechanism chambers a railway spike, before releasing a valve, the steam pressure ejecting the spike at high speeds. Improvised Firearms While pre-war firearms are relatively common, at least in the North America wasteland, substantial numbers of improvised firearms are still in use in North American, and they are particularly common in areas where pre-war civilian ownership of guns was less common, such as Europe, China, and Japan. These weapons range from simple single-shot weapons and to intricately designed semi or fully automatic weapons, some even being handmade copies of pre-war manufactured weapons. The majority of these weapons are chambered for either common pistol-caliber rounds or shotgun shells. Rifle caliber weapons are rarer, as they require a more durable construction to survive the higher pressures of firing. Improvised Explosives While significant stocks of pre-war mines and grenades remain in use in the postwar period, improvised munitions played an increasing role as the stock of pre-war explosives were slowly depleted. One of the most common pre-war improvised grenades remains the Molotov cocktail, a simple bottle of gasoline, alcohol, or other flammable liquid with a rag for fuse, used as a simple incendiary device. In addition to Molotov cocktails, improvised mines and grenades, typically using homemade explosives such as black powder or ammonium nitrate are in common use. Among the most common designs for improvised grenades are the "pipe bomb" and "tin can grenade", which consist of a metal pipe and a tin can respectively filled with homemade explosives and nails and other metal scraps for shrapnel. These devices are typically triggered by a simple hand-lit fuse or a crude imitation of a pre-war grenade fuse, using a spring mechanism held in place by a safety pin. When the pin is released, a spring-loaded striker strikes a percussion cap, which in turn ignites a short (typically 2-5 seconds) fuse. Improvised mines may be made from a variety of different materials, some of the most common casing being cigar boxes, lunch boxes, and paint cans loaded with explosives and shrapnel similarly to improvised grenade designs. These devices may be triggered by a trip wire or a sensor made from pre-war electronic components. While less common than improvised land mines, postwar naval forces, including both the navies of postwar states and pirates will manufacture improvised naval mines out of buoys, oil drums, or crates filled with explosives and equipped with a contact fuse. These weapons are particularly nefarious as they can be difficult to distinguish from harmless floating debris until it is too late. While less common than grenades or mines, improvised rockets are also relatively common, in the form of both handheld launchers and larger artillery rockets. Even among unreliable improvised explosives, homemade rockets have a reputation for being particularly dangerous, as the combination of both a propellant and warhead increases the potential for potentially catastrophic failure. In addition to improvised rockets, improvised launchers for purposes-built rockets also exist. Improvised Energy Weapons Energy weapons are among the most valuable weapons in the post-war wasteland, being rarer than conventional firearms, but highly prized for their range and accuracy. When an energy weapon breaks down, the owner will often attempt to repair it, and if purpose-built parts are not available, they will make use of parts taken from other sources, typically pre-war electronics. One of the most common designs of improvised energy weapons is an improvised laser rifle with a capacitor charged with a hand-cranked dynamo. This design has the unique advantage of not needing fusion cells to operate. These weapons are most common in the Commonwealth, where they are referred to as "laser muskets", but can be seen in a variety of locations across the wasteland. For instance, on the rare occasion a laser weapons finds its way into an isolated wasteland settlement, it will often be converted into such a hand-cranked weapon as soon as the supply of fusion cells is exhausted. These weapons generally much more fragile and do not last as long as the reliable AER-9 laser rifle, and there is a danger of overcharging and damaging the capacitor (though Commonwealth laser muskets avoid this with a mechanical device that stops cranking after given number of cranks and does not allow further cranking until the trigger is pulled). These improvised laser weapons often have the pulse-control mechanism removed, meaning that all of the charge in the capacitor is released at once. This means that the beam is far more powerful, with some Commonwealth laser muskets reportedly able to have comparable armor penetration to a .50 BMG round, but this will eventually increased wear on the lens due to heat stress. The assembly of an improvised laser weapon may be mounted on the original stock and grip, typically of an AER-9 laser rifle, or on a hand-made stock and grip, as is often the case with Commonwealth laser muskets. Improvised Ammunition Hand-loaded ammunition made by re-using fired cartridges is by far the most common source of ammunition in the wasteland, at least until the industrial revival in regions such as the New California Republic, and even afterwards in more remote regions. In most cases, rounds are reloaded with a solid lead or steel projectile, which in some cases may not have a copper jacket. If the round is unjacketed, it will result in greater fouling of the barrel, requiring more frequent cleaning, an issue which may also present itself due to the lower-quality propellants used. Shotgun shells Shotguns are among the most common weapons in the postwar period, and also have seen some of the most unique and creative forms of improvised ammunition, by virtue of it being easily possible to load anything that will fit in the shell into the weapon. It should be noted that some forms of improvised shotgun rounds may damage the barrel of the weapon they are fired from. *'"Junk shot":' Shotguns shells are sometimes refilled with various improvised projectiles, such as small ball bearings, small nails, nuts, pieces of bolts, razor blades, coins, cut-up pieces of thick wire such as a coat hanger, and other small metal scraps. These projectiles can cause severe trauma, but may damage the barrel of the shotgun. *'Darts:' Shotgun darts are hand-made darts machined from steel, aluminum, or other metals used as an improvised armor-piercing projectile. The tip of the projectile is made from the hardest material available, with the best materials being hardened steel and, if available, tungsten or depleted uranium. The shaft and fins of the dart are often made from aluminum or mild steel, and are often held in place by a metal or wooden sabot. The entire assembly is placed inside a shotgun shell with the shot or slug removed, creating something similar to a pre-war armor-piercing fin-stabilized, discarding sabot round. As the dart and sabot assembly often protrudes from outside the end of shotgun shell, dart rounds cannot be used used in magazine-fed shotguns (unless they are loaded individually directly into the the chamber), and are thus mostly used in break-action shotguns. As they are handmade, shotgun darts vary greatly in accuracy and effectiveness. The best darts will fly straight and punch through up to about a quarter inch of the steel- greater penetration than most pistol or shotgun ammunition and enough to pierce most post-apocalyptic handmade body armor. There are even unconfirmed rumors of darts penetrating weaker points of power armor, including the visor, neck, and knee and elbow joints. Many darts, however, are crudely made and have unpredictable flight paths. This along with the fact that darts are difficult to make and may damage the barrel of a shotgun, means that darts are among the least common types of homemade shotgun ammunition. Heavy Weapons While belt-fed machine guns and to a lesser extent, even mortars and artillery are relatively common in North America, they far less common in areas that had smaller militaries in the pre-war period, meaning that, for those smaller post-apocalypic communities that have lost the technology to produce such heavy weapons must make use of improvised heavy weapons. These weapons are typically stationary and often mounted on the walls of settlements to defend them. Improvised Gatling Guns While man-portable miniguns and belt-fed machine guns are relatively common in North America, they are less common elsewhere, and even in North America, more isolated wasteland communities may be forced to improvise heavy automatic weapons for defense against raiders. Among the most common forms of improvised heavy machine gun is a crank-operated device similar to a 19th century Gatling gun. These devices are often made out of parts from rifles and various machine parts. In some cases, the weapon is simply a rotating frame with five or six semi-automatic rifles attached, with a mechanism to repeatedly pull the trigger of an individual rifle as it passes the top of the cylinder. Each rifle is fed by its own magazine, making the device lengthy to reload. Improvised Gatling guns are not particularly accurate, but in some areas, may be the only option for sustained rapid fire for defense against raiders. Improvised Mortars Improvised mortars are among the most common form of postwar improvised artillery, being very simple to produce. In many cases, they are designed to use pre-war mortar shells, and consist of only a pipe of roughly the same diameter, sometimes reinforced with metal on the sides, with a nail on the bottom of the barrel to act as a fixed firing pin. Improvised mortars using cruder improvised shells are also common, with the largest ones having a bore of 30 centimeters or greater, firing shells typically made from old propane canisters. These weapons pack considerable explosive firepower and can be fired up to 1-2 kilometers, but are inaccurate and, like all postwar-made explosives, potentially dangerous to the user. "Wasteland Cannons" Improvised direct fire cannons are also relatively common, and are often as crude, if not cruder than most mortar designs. While some fire explosive shells, sometimes being as simple as pre-war mortars modified to be fire at a shallow trajectory, however, many are far cruder, simple steel tube, often reinforced in the rear that are filled with a given amount of powder and any projectiles that might be handy, often piece of scrap metal such as nails. These weapons can act as improvised claymore mines and, while not effective against a foe with pre-war heavy weapons, can be quite effective against attacking raiders or super mutants. Rocket Artillery Rockets have been used as weapons since the 13th century and crude rockets are relatively simple to make. These include both handheld launchers as well as larger stationary rocket artillery. These weapons are typically very simple in design, with the crudest ones resembling oversized bottle rockets, with a metal body and crude stabilization provided by metal fins or a wooden guide stick. The rocket itself is usually propelled using a solid fuel, typically black powder or smokeless powder, with a bursting charge often consisting of ammonium nitrate or gunpowder. Some launchers may also use rockets from pre-war handheld launchers. These weapons tend to have a short range of no more two kilometers, and are almost always fired in from multiple launchers holding at least eight tubes, to compensate for their low accuracy. The rockets may be fired using a simple pyrotechnic fuse or an electrical device powered by a microfusion cell. Regardless of mechanism, the launcher often has some sort of mechanism to fire it from behind cover, even if only a long lanyard attacked to the firing mechanism, as improvised rockets are known for failing, sometimes catastrophically. Some postwar factions that have regained basic industrial capabilities have undergone the process of replacing improvised rocket artillery with simple standardized designs similar to the WWII-era Soviet Katyusha rocket, with the New California Republic's Standard Artillery Rocket being one example. Category:Weapons